Michael E. Shea's Blog, page 12

How to Choose DCs for Your 5e Game

Here's a quick way to determine the difficulty class (DC) when characters attempt to accomplish a risky endeavor in your 5e RPG.

Think about the situation in the game's world. Then ask yourself, on a scale of 10 to 20, how hard would this action be to pull off? Pick a number and go with it.

Between 10 and 20

DCs can go as low or as high as you want, but there are practical limits. Below 10 and it's not worth rolling �����just let the characters accomplish their goal. Above 20 might make sense when an objective is really hard but still possible. Trained characters with high ability scores can still hit DCs above 20, but not often. Sometimes it's better to just say something's impossible if it's really not possible.

Otherwise, picking a number between 10 and 20 works just fine.

Advice from the Dungeon Master's Guide

Buried way in the back on page 238 of the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide, we find useful advice on choosing DCs:

If you���ve decided that an ability check is called for, then most likely the task at hand isn���t a very easy one. Most people can accomplish a DC 5 task with little chance of failure. Unless circumstances are unusual, let characters succeed at such a task without making a check.

Then ask yourself, ���Is this task���s difficulty easy, moderate, or hard?��� If the only DCs you ever use are 10, 15, and 20, your game will run just fine. Keep in mind that a character with a 10 in the associated ability and no proficiency will succeed at an easy task around 50 percent of the time. A moderate task requires a higher score or proficiency for success, whereas a hard task typically requires both. A big dose of luck with the d20 also doesn���t hurt.

If you find yourself thinking, ���This task is especially hard,��� you can use a higher DC, but do so with caution and consider the level of the characters. A DC 25 task is very hard for low-level characters to accomplish, but it becomes more reasonable after 10th level or so. A DC 30 check is nearly impossible for most low-level characters. A 20th-level character with proficiency and a relevant ability score of 20 still needs a 19 or 20 on the die roll to succeed at a task of this difficulty.

Don't Overthink It

Don't get your head too wrapped up around DCs. Go with your gut. Think about the difficulty of the situation in the world and choose a number.

Don't Set DCs Based on the Characters

Don't set your DCs based on the characters, their proficiencies, or other abilities they have. If they're good at something, let them be good at it. Choose DCs regardless of who's attempting it. An approach might change a DC. If you're trying to intimidate the lich (DC 32), that may not work out very well, but flattery might (DC 14)! Just because the bard has a +12 in Persuasion doesn't mean the lich becomes harder to flatter.

Keep Your Head in the World

This advice feeds into a bigger tip ��� keep your head in the game's world. Think about things from inside the world. What is it really like there? How hard are the situations the characters attempt? What are the NPCs really like?

5e games are about building a world and wrapping it in DCs against which the characters attempt actions using their ability bonuses, skill proficiencies, and a d20 roll. Every rock, every crevasse, every locked door, every scowling bar bouncer ��� they all have little DCs floating over them. All you have to do is look at them in the context of the world and read what they say.

Imagine the situation in the world and choose a number between 10 and 20.

Helping Jennell Jaquays

Esteemed D&D designer Jennell Jaquays, the inspiration for many fantastic dungeon design principles, is battling some difficult medical conditions and could use your help. Please help her out on the GoFundMe set up by her wife.

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Arcane Library Bundle of HoldingLevel Up Advanded 5e SRD in the Creative CommonsPlanescape Adventures in the MultiverseThe MortuaryLazy GM Screen Sheets and a Forge of Foes Monster Stat AppMusic Playlists for Your GamePatreon Questions and Answers

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Pacing High-Level CampaignsRunning Two Campaigns with the Same Setting and StoryRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Use the 13th Age ���escape��� rule. The group can run from combat, avoiding further attacks and collecting downed allies but at the cost of a significant shift in the story.Let enemies retreat when you think it makes sense to them to do so.Use the simplest tools you need to help you run your game.Take a deep breath. Your friends love you and want to have a great time. You���re all on the same side sharing an awesome story together.Worry less about the TTRPG industry news and the larger zeitgeist and focus on running an awesome game for your friends.Spill too many secrets.Clarify out of game what the characters learned in-game.Related ArticlesConverting Adventures Between SystemsFocus Extra Prep Time on the CharactersBuild from the Characters OutwardsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Focus Extra Prep Time on the Characters

Whenever we're looking at our game prep, it's useful to consider what's valuable and what isn't valuable for the fun of the game. What matters? There's not a perfect answer — each of us chooses what matters the most for us and our group — but there are common areas we can focus on.

Almost everything we do to tie the characters to the world, the story, and the game provides tremendous value in our prep. As much as we might enjoy pondering the 7,000 year history of our city or hunting for the perfect battle map, it's important to find new ways to tie the characters to the story and draw our players deeper into the game we love.

Maybe you're done with your prep (as much as we're ever done.) Maybe you still feel some anxiety about it and have some time. Where do you spend that time?

On the characters.

Here are ten things you can do during or after your prep to better tie the characters into the game.

Add one secret or clue tied to each character for your next session.Look over the characters' current magic items and think about what they might want to find next.Think about each character's specialty in combat and think about a way to let them shine in one of your upcoming conflicts.Think about the NPCs players really liked and how you can bring them back into the story.Think about a home base the characters might acquire or ways to modify their existing home base.Write some flash fiction about one of the characters and email it to the group.Develop a handout describing one or more of the characters and the impact they had on the world.Tie one of your upcoming locations to the backgrounds of the characters.Plan a prophetic scene for one of the characters with an arcane or religious bent.Think about the motivations and actions of an intelligent item currently carried by the characters.

Whether you're having trouble digging into your prep for your next session or you're done with your prep but want to dive in a little more, think about what character-focused ideas you can drop into your next game.

Every moment spent thinking about the characters and their connections to the world, the story, and the next session provides great dividends for you and your players.

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Running Battles in the Background (again)Running Ravenloft with ShadowdarkRPG Tips

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Change up the themes and feeling of your adventure arc by focusing exclusively on a new monster book.Prep in the space where you���re going to run your game. Visualize what it���ll be like to play. Fill in the gaps.Build three musical playlists to run during your game: Relaxing, sinister, and battle music.Worry less about the larger D&D and RPG zeitgeist. What do you want and need to have a great time playing games with your friends?Run small experiments.Ask players what mechanics they���re eager to see play out in the game. Build encounters to show them off.Great table aids: blue sticky tack, index cards, adhesive re-usable bookmarks, generic tokens, Pathfinder flip mat, dry-erase markers, big flat acrylic sheet.Related ArticlesHow Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?Build from the Characters OutwardsFive Ways to Integrate Characters Into Your CampaignGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

The Eight Steps of the Lazy DM �����2023 Review

Since 2018, Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master has helped thousands of GMs improve their tabletop roleplaying games and focus on what matters most for their games. The core of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is the eight steps for game prep offering a flexible and modular outline to help GMs

focus on what matters most for the game,prepare what they need to improvise at the table,and keep the pacing of the game flexible and fun.

Today we're going to review the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master for those who haven't yet seen them and offer a refresher for those who have used them over the past five years.

The free Lazy GM's Resource Document includes descriptions of the eight steps and many examples along with other material from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, the Lazy DM's Workbook, and the Lazy DM's Companion. It's available to read, copy, or use, even commercially, under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Give it a look if you want to dig further or include these ideas in your own work.

And now the steps.

Step 1: Review the Characters

In the first step, we focus our attention on the players' characters. The characters are the single interface between players and the world we're sharing together. We spend this part of our prep remembering who they are, what they want, and what connections they have to the world. It's the first of the eight steps so we can keep them firmly in mind while running through the other seven steps.

One fantastic way to work the characters into your prep is to ask yourself

"What hook can I include in the next session to draw this character into the game?"

and do this for each character in the game.

Step 2: Create a Strong Start

The strong start draws players out of the real world and into the game. The key driver for the strong start is "something happens." Maybe the characters get attacked (a typical but potentially overused favorite). Maybe they meet a long-lost NPC. Maybe there's a festival in town. Maybe a sinkhole opens up in the road leading to the depths below. Something happens, and it draws players into the world. The strong start often leads to the hook to draw the characters into the adventure if there isn't one already.

Step 3: Outline Potential Scenes

This step is entirely designed to help GMs feel good about their prep. It sets the potential boundaries for the session. The key question is "what scenes might occur in this session?" These scenes might be in a linear sequence or potential branches based on the choices or actions of the characters. They might be small and focused scenes or big plans like "explore level 3 of the Scarlet Citadel." Your outline of scenes should be small and brief ��� just a few short sentences in a list. Don't overdo it. Keep it brief and flexible and be ready to throw these scenes away if they don't actually come up in the game.

Step 4: Define Secrets and Clues

This is the heart of the eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Whatever steps you decide on for your prep, "secrets and clues" may be the main one you want to include.

These secrets and clues have a few criteria that make them powerful:

They're short. Usually just a sentence or two.They're relevant. They focus on things the characters may want to know like the history of the location or the plans of a villain.They're abstracted from the location of their discovery. We don't determine how the characters find a secret. We focus only on the secret itself and then improvise how characters find them as we run the game.

This last point is tricky to understand and critical to their value in our prep. You decide which secrets the characters uncover during the game itself. Maybe they learn it from an NPC. Maybe they learn it by examining a fresco on the wall. Maybe a secret comes to them in a divine vision. The Lazy GM's Resource Document includes ten different ways secrets might be discovered in four different categories.

Originally I recommended starting with a fresh slate of ten secrets every time you prep. Recently, many GMs, including myself, find it easier to review your last session's secrets and bring forward any secrets that have yet to be uncovered and are still relevant to the game.

Step 5: Develop Fantastic Locations

Fantastic locations serve as the backdrop to the scenes we run. What locations might come up during the game? Locations might be small, like the master bedroom in a manor or a prison cell in a dungeon. They might be large backdrops for a scene like the dank alleyways of a city or an ancient fountain in the plaza at midnight. We decide how much detail we need for a location based on how important it might be in the game. For some locations, all we need is a name like "bloody torture chamber" or "master bedroom of shattered mirrors."

We usually want enough of a description to help us improvise locations during the game but we often don't need more than a sentence. If we think a location is going to be the backdrop to a big set-piece battle, we might add one to three fantastic features to a location so it looks like this:

Hall of storms. Large pit dropping into the sky below, huge crumbling pillars, lightning-charged throne.

Those "aspects" of a location gives the characters something to mess with during a scene.

If you're running a large dungeon, you might not need anything more than the titles of the rooms in a list. If you're running a published adventure, you might not need anything at all.

Step 6: Outline Important NPCs

In this step, we write down the names and any important notes for NPCs that might come up in our next session. These NPCs could be people the characters might meet, villains they might face, or even intelligent magic items the characters carry.

Often the hardest part of preparing NPCs is remembering their names. Writing down their names might be all we need. We might want to build NPCs from characters in popular fiction so we have an instant set of mannerisms, dialects, and appearances. More detailed NPCs might have goals and quests they follow to accomplish those goals. To keep your NPCs fresh, switch their genders and appearances. If you can, grab artwork to show your players what the NPCs look like.

Step 7: Choose Relevant Monsters

What monsters might the characters face in the next session? Typically, GMs prep whole scenes with locations and monsters together. In these eight steps, we separate out our list of monsters so we can drop them in anywhere. We may still build big set-piece boss battles by combining monsters with locations (and secrets, NPCs, and treasure) but most of the time we just list potential monsters. This gives us the freedom to improvise combat encounters based on the situation in the game's world and the pacing of the game itself.

When we're looking at the locations the characters might explore, what monsters make sense for those locations? During the game we use upward and downward beats and the dials of monster difficulty to help us build fun and engaging combat encounters.

When thinking about what monsters might make sense for the next session, it helps to write down the lazy encounter benchmark so we know where the line is between a potentially challenging encounter and a potentially deadly one.

For boss battles or big set-piece battles, we might go with the more traditional way of setting up a detailed location with a specific set of monsters. This method works well when a big battle might be our strong start.

Step 8: Select Treasure and Magic Item Rewards

Players love getting loot. Thus, it's worth our time to consider what loot they might discover. We can use two different methods to select loot:

Choose magic items that fit the characters.Choose treasure and magic items randomly.

We can mix these two methods. Sometimes we select specific magic items useful for particular characters. Other times we roll randomly to see what they get. There are many different ways to roll for random loot including tables in the Lazy DM's Companion, the Dungeon Master's Guide, or using a variety of online tools like Donjon's treasure generator.

Choose Your Own Style

The eight steps from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master are intended to be modular. You can choose different steps depending on whether you're running homebrew or published material or whether you're running a single-session game or a long campaign. You may have other steps you find vital to your prep not included here or find that some of these steps don't serve you and are easily skipped. That's perfect. That's how the Lazy DM style is supposed to work.

Focus on what matters and omit what doesn't.

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Character Wants to Defer to AuthoritiesRunning FlashbacksManaging Big Battles in the BackgroundRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Mix easy battles, hard battles, interesting conversations, and exploration throughout your adventures.Let mid-bosses be destroyed by good player tactics, surprises, and good luck. You can always whip up another boss.Use non-core and lesser known spells as powers for single-use or once-per-day magic items.Shake up battles. Include big single or duo monsters sometimes, huge hordes another time, one-on-one wolfpacks another time. Run easy fights, hard fights, and multiple waves of combatants.Pathfinder flip mats offer great table-usable and re-usable locations you can use for years. Cull your tools. Keep those that help you run awesome games and get rid of the rest.Reveal secrets anywhere ��� carved into old dead trees, whispered among tavern patrons, or shouted out from villains as you engage them in combat.Related ArticlesPrepare a D&D Game in 15 MinutesChoosing the Right Steps from the Lazy DM ChecklistRe-Using Secrets and CluesGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Dungeon Crawls Versus Situations

Sometimes the line between running a dungeon crawl and running a larger situation �����like a heist ��� isn't so clear. They both have locations. They both have goals. They both have inhabitants. But both styles of games run differently. Each type has a structure we follow when we're preparing them and running them.

It behooves us GMs to compare these two structures. What defines the difference between a dungeon crawl and a larger situation-based adventure?

The answer is: goals and circumstances.

Different Types of Dungeon Goals

Characters should always have a goal when delving into a dungeon ��� be it a series of caverns, an old temple, a ruined castle, an ancient crypt, or a mysterious manor. Maybe it's to find treasure. Maybe it's to find information. Maybe it's to kill a nasty boss. There are always reasons to go into a dangerous dungeon ��� otherwise, why go into such a horrible place?

Sometimes these goals require crawling from room to room, avoiding wandering monsters, checking for traps, worrying about lighting and visibility, and so on. Other times these goals mean finding the main room, getting in, doing your job, and leaving before something terrible happens.

A scenario in which the characters must light the four braziers of Set to open the obsidian door to the shadowed vault likely requires crawling through a dungeon to find said braziers and locate the door.

A scenario to rescue the king's nephew from the cultists of Set before they sacrifice him to their serpent god might not require so thorough a dungeon crawl. Find the chamber, free the prince, and escape.

Example Goals

Here are five examples of more dungeon-crawly goals. These goals lend themselves towards adventures in which the characters travel through a larger part of a dungeon seeking one or more things without a big time constraint.

Light four magical candles to illuminate a hidden fresco.Find three of five keys to open a gateway to another world.Destroy four anchors of a hellish portal.Find a powerful foe-slaying weapon.Lay a tormented soul to rest.

And here are five examples of more situation / heist-style goals. These goals focus more on a single specific quest taking place in a larger location. These goals are more focused on getting in, accomplishing the goal, and getting out.

Dismiss a powerful fiend.Steal invasion plans of the nearby city.Rescue a reluctant hostage.Recover a dangerous artifact.Steal the key to an aerial warship.Different Types of Circumstances

Circumstances also dictate whether the characters approach a dungeon as a crawl or as a situation. Are there lots of wandering patrols? Is something important to the story happening soon? Would crawling through every room take the characters away from their goal? Are events changing while the characters might be exploring? Any of these circumstances might shift the characters away from crawling room to room and drive them towards the main goal instead.

Do the characters know the layout of the dungeon? If they know the layout, they know where to go to accomplish their goal. If they don't have a map, they'll have to crawl the dungeon and learn where to go. Sometimes the characters have a partial map devoid of secret hallways, hidden chambers, or underground tunnels. They know most of the location, but not all of it.

Know Your Adventure Structure

When building an adventure or running a published adventure, you may not know right away whether you're running a dungeon crawl or a more dynamic situation. In Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the Palace of Heart's Desire looks like a big place to explore with 51 areas to investigate. In reality, the characters may only visit a handful of rooms depending on how you run it and the choices the characters make.

When preparing a location for your game, ask yourself if the characters are going to treat it like a dungeon crawl or treat the whole thing as a situation. Then choose the approach that fits the structure.

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Foreshadowing Roach Motel DungeonsShowing Locations in a Hex CrawlRPG Tips

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Let monsters get crowd controlled. Have enough that it doesn't completely remove the threat. Tell players when they may accidentally trigger multiple groups of monsters. Set up a whole location with small groups of monsters who move around and may or may not become aware of the characters. The dungeon crawl and the heist are two common adventure models. Know how they work and build around their strengths. Embrace shenanigans!Throw mixtures of low and high CR monsters at your characters. Use more monsters and let them get thrown off pits and ledges or banished to the forbidden zone. Use random generators to spark your creativity. Related ArticlesRunning a Dungeon CrawlFocus Your CampaignBuilding a D&D Situation ��� Castle Orzelbirg from Empire of the GhoulsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Use Dyson's Maps

DMs often overprepare. Drawing our own maps is typically one such activity. You may be tempted to draw out your dungeon maps and, if you enjoy it and have the time, go with the gods. But if time is tight or you feel like your time may be best spent elsewhere, use existing maps instead.

Dyson Logos Maps

Dyson Logos, the cartographer responsible for numerous maps in published Wizards of the Coast adventures, has more than a thousand maps available on Dysonlogos.blog. Instead of drawing a map, grab one from there. I've used Dyson maps for all sorts of locations in all sorts of worlds whether it was Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Shadowdark, or Numenera.

If you have an idea for a location, keep the general location in mind and scroll through Dyson's maps. When you find one that fits your needs, stop, download it, and stick it in your notes.

Dyson's maps are easy to use in a VTT, easy to replicate on a hand-drawn battle map, and cheap to print large-scale as blueprint maps at your local printer. They follow the best practices of Jaquays-style maps including multiple entrances, multiple paths, loop-backs, asymmetric designs, elevation changes, and secret passages.

Tips for Using Dyson Maps

Here's a handful of other tips for making the most of Dyson maps:

Dyson's maps often have gridded and gridless versions. Try the gridless version in your VTT of choice, adding the VTT's grid on top of it if needed. Resize Dyson's maps to suit the size you want for rooms and hallways. Make sure there's plenty of room for those fire giants.Aim for maps that fit the size you need. Dyson maps can go from five rooms to dozens (even hundreds) of rooms. Choose the size that best fits the length of the delve you have in mind.Collapse halls to shrink down larger dungeons if needed.Write down evocative names for major chambers. Keep descriptions short�������just a word or two ��� enough to give you what you need to improvise it during the game.Write room descriptions in a list moving clockwise around the map if you don't want to annotate individual rooms.If needed, print and draw in room numbers. Take a picture and put it in your digital notes. It's often faster than annotating it with an image editor.Keep a handful of your favorite Dyson maps downloaded locally in your notes so you have general-purpose maps handy when you need them.An Invaluable Tool for Lazy DMs

The next time you're tempted to draw out a map, grab a Dyson map and put your prep time into other high-impact areas like building encounters around the characters, making interesting or unique treasure, or thinking through the eyes of your villains.

Dyson's work is funded through Patreon. Dyson's maps are an incredible resource for the TTRPG hobby. Please give Dyson your support.

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Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Keep the characters at the center of your prep. What hooks do you have for each character in your next session?Cut the boring middle. Use spells as interesting rewards on single or daily use magic items. Draw out and show players the layout of the location for a heist-style adventure. Design magic items around the characters. Let monsters get crowd controlled. Have enough that it doesn't completely remove the threat. Related ArticlesThe Only Dungeon Map You'll Ever NeedUsing Maps for In-Person GamesA Simpler Checklist for Jaquays-style Dungeon MapsGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

How Many Rounds of Combat Are Ideal?

The answer? Don't worry about it.

Ok, you probably want more advice than that.

Recently Hayley M., a Patreon of Sly Flourish asked:

Combat encounter length: It depends, of course, but do you or your players have a base expectation of how many rounds feels too few or too many for a main story-related fight? You often talk about buffing hit points on monsters and villains, is that because you expect them to last a minimum number of rounds?

I don't know if there's a base expectation. I think many DMs and players expect the answer of roughly "three" �����maybe more for big story-moving fights like boss battles.

Like many aspects of the game, I tend not to think about how many rounds a battle should go. Like Gandalf, I think a battle should end precisely when it means to.

As Hayley says, it depends. You don't want a battle with two bandits outside of a hideout to take three rounds. That encounter can be over in the same amount of time it'd take you to roll initiative. You also don't want your massive three-phase pinnacle boss battle to be over in three rounds. Climactic multi-phase battles might go six or nine rounds.

I don't think it's useful to worry about how many rounds combat takes. Instead, I think it's better to focus on the feeling, the pacing, and the beats of your game. Keep your hands on the dials. Know when monsters have overstayed their welcome and turn that hit point dial to 1. Don't just "call it right here."

GMs tend to worry too much about aspects of the game that really don't matter to the fun and story of the game. The number of combat encounters per long rest, the exact details of encounter balance or combat difficulty, or how the characters might bypass an encounter we intend for combat �����these details aren't the critical criteria for a great session. They build a desired but often stale structure around an otherwise free-flowing game.

Ignore things like the ideal number of rounds and focus on building interesting situations for the characters to explore however they choose. Maybe a battle takes half a round. Maybe it takes nine rounds over an entire session of the game.

The real question is:

Are you and your players having fun?

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Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

Shaking Up Castle RavenloftThree Weeks of GM ImprovementRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Note the characters' resistances. Attack them with those resistances. The higher level the characters go, the more monsters you'll want to throw their way. Single monsters typically can't stand up to a group of characters above 6th level. Give characters several meaningful paths through a location. Highlight the story and game effects of notable features in big combat arenas. Build vertical combat arenas. Give each magic item a story and unique property or effect.Related ArticlesDescribe your GM StyleThree Reasons to Fudge Monster Hit PointsAnatomy of an Environmental Effect �����Chernobog's WellGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Share PDFs With Your Players

There are times when we're running our RPGs where we want to be able to share PDFs of game materials with our players. Maybe we're including 5e published material not available on D&D Beyond. Maybe we're running an entirely different roleplaying game. In either scenario, it can be either expensive for players to buy the material themselves or we'd be breaking the law (and generally behaving badly) by sharing copies of our RPG PDFs directly with players.

It isn't reasonable to expect each of our players to drop $20 to $60 on PDFs for one campaign or one run of a new RPG and not every game offers cheap or free alternatives. I expect a lot of GMs just send players copies of these PDFs but doing so is illegal and risky. Many of these PDFs are watermarked to the person purchasing the PDF. Should the watermarked PDF be widely distributed, the original purchaser could be under considerable risk. It's also morally questionable. Don't bootleg PDFs.

So here's a better way ��� a free way to share PDFs with your players that's legal, moral, and safe.

If you'd rather watch a step by step video on this tip, please check out the Share PDFs With Your Players YouTube Video.

This trick uses Google Drive so you and your players each need to have a Google account to use it.

These steps are for the person sharing the PDF to others.

Create a "shared PDF" folder in your Google Drive folder.Open that folder and upload the PDF or PDFs you want to share with your players.Select the files you want to share. Right click and press "Share".Add the Google email addresses for each of the players with whom you want to share the PDF. Make sure they're selected as "Viewer".In the upper right corner of the share window is a little gear "settings" icon. Click that icon.Ensure that "Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy" is not selected. This ensures that the viewer can't download or print the file.Save your settings and notify your players that you shared your file.

For the reader, they can go to their Google Drive and see that these PDFs are now shared with them. As long as the person sharing the file continues to do so, they'll be able to read the file through their browser on Google Drive but can't download it or print it.

Sharing PDFs using Google Drive is an extremely useful trick to keep on hand anytime you want to give the players new character options, player guides, or entire rules to a game without worrying that they'll get out there to the open internet and without requiring each player to drop a lot of cash to get the materials you want to share.

Pass this tip, the article, and the video to anyone you think will find it useful!

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a YouTube video on the Return to Wardenwood ��� Shadowdark Gloaming Session 4 Lazy GM Prep.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Chris Perkins's DM TipsLevel Up Advanced 5e Starter Set by EN World PublishingMonstrousCorrection on A5e CounterspellRun Really Hard Battles and Let Player Get Away with StuffDwarven Forge VTT BackdropsPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

Prepping Adventures While Visually ImpairedReciting Session Recaps and Previous Session SummariesGMs Bringing More Energy to the GameBest Starting Adventures for New Players and DMsRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Ensure there's a choice and multiple outcomes in every scene.Strong starts need not be combat but they should draw the characters (and the players) into the game.What's your minimum viable set of tools and prep to run a great game?Discard NPCs that don't resonate with the players.Let the characters' exploits follow ahead of them as they meet new NPCs.Give gods "masks"����� alternative personas they wear while engaging in the world of mortals.Give each monster you run an interesting flavorful move or power that defines them in the world.Related ArticlesOrganizing Digital RPG MaterialsSeven Fantastic Tools to Play RPGs OnlineTwenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social MediaGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Limit Sources While Using D&D Beyond

Over the lifespan of D&D 5th edition Wizards of the Coast released dozens of sourcebooks including new races, subclasses, spells, backgrounds, and feats. Allowing access to all features from all sources for every campaign can result in strange character combinations fitting no particular theme and create weird game-stressing results at the table. The expansion of materials leads to players choosing the same optimal selections regardless of the direction a campaign takes (I'm looking at you, Toll the Dead) .

Limiting sources lets you focus a campaign around a theme. For a draconic-focused campaign you might limit sources to the Player's Handbook and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. For a more gothic horror-focused campaign you might add Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. However not every sourcebook fits in every campaign.

D&D Beyond's Limitations

D&D Beyond doesn't do a good job of limiting sources or identifying where material comes from. If a player owns a particular sourcebook, the options from that sourcebook appear in the character builder even if a DM limits sources in the campaign manager.

The character builder itself has limited functions to filter out Magic: The Gathering and Critical Role content but books it considers "core" sources (I don't know whats included in that category) are always available if a player owns them. Thus, if a player owns Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, all options from that book show up.

Even though the introductions of many of these supplemental D&D books state that their rules are optional and at the DM's discretion, D&D Beyond includes them automatically regardless of what you select in the character builder.

Thus, if we want to limit source material (and I argue we do), it's up to us to communicate clearly to our players how to choose from limited options.

During our session zero we want to clarify which sources are allowed, which sources are not, and how to use D&D Beyond with these limitations in mind. Here's an example list we might offer to players during our session zero of a dragon-themed campaign:

This campaign uses a limited set of character options from specific sourcebooks. We do not use every option available in D&D Beyond.Races for this campaign include those in the Player's Handbook and those in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.Character options and spells for this campaign can be selected from the Player's Handbook,, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. We also use the "Customizing Your Origin," "Changing Your Skill," "Changing Your Subclass," and the "Optional Class Features" from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (but not its subclasses or most of its spells). We'll replace the Players Handbook "conjure" spells with the Tasha's "summon" spells.Please note that D&D Beyond doesn't clearly display which options are from which sources. There's no good way to limit sources in D&D Beyond. Thus, pay careful attention to which races, subclasses, spells, and feats you select and ensure they're coming from the sources above.When selecting features, look up subclasses, spells, and feats from the sourcebooks above. Don't browse options in the character builder. It displays every option available and doesn't make it clear where a source came from.Likewise the "Game Rules" links often show all available sources such as every subclass for a given class. Instead, read the sourcebooks mentioned above under "sources."Once you've selected the features you want from the sourcebooks directly, select those options in the character builder.

Here's a potential shorter explanation suitable for a one-page campaign guide:

This campaign uses limited sources. When using D&D Beyond, ensure you browse and select options from the sourcebook directly before choosing options in the character builder. The character builder does not filter out options from other sourcebooks.

Selecting from limited options in D&D Beyond is an arduous process but without a good way to filter sources, we have to work with our players to help them select only the features available in the sources we want for our campaign.

You might ask again if it's worth the trouble to limit sources in your campaign. I argue it is. Limitations fuel creativity. Selecting specific sourcebooks lets every campaign we run feel different from the others, with new and often undervalued options available to players who might otherwise focus on the most optimal options regardless of the theme of the campaign.

With some work on our part and that of our players, we can weave a rich tapestry of unique campaigns we run for years to come.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on The Idol of Unduluk ��� Shadowdark Gloaming Session 3 Lazy GM Prep and Choosing Perfect Monsters.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

2024 Players Handbook Playtest 7I Hate CounterspellSide Quests and NPC Decks by Inkwell IdeasDemiplane Gets 5e ContentAdventure Pitfalls -- Where Do Our Games Fail to Be Fun?The Lazy RPG Talk Show DatabaseBaldur's Gate 3 Ability ChecksPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

Does Baldur's Gate 3 Match the D&D Experience?Fudging Monster Stats Feels BadTips for Rules Versus Rulings in OSR GamesOnly Using Half of your Prep NotesRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Build big scenes involving combat, exploration, and roleplaying all mashed together.Think about your dungeons in three dimensions. What's above and what's below?Throw in lots of extra monsters and let your characters get away with all sorts of shenanigans.Let players hurl bad guys off of cliffs.Provoke opportunity attacks.Are your characters particularly powerful? Throw more monsters at them.Avoid stereotypical intelligent creatures. Derro aren't "crazy", they see multiple worlds simultaneously!Related ArticlesAsk Players to Describe New Character AbilitiesTwenty Things to Do Instead of Checking Social MediaFocus Your CampaignGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Run Homebrew Adventures in a Published Setting

Running your own adventures in a published campaign setting offers the best benefits from both �����the freedom to customize homebrew adventures with the high production value and depth of lore of a published campaign setting.

Mixing Two Common Approaches

According to polls I���ve run, most GMs run their own adventures in their own campaign worlds while those who run in published campaign worlds often run using published adventures in that world.

Today we're going to look at the benefits of mixing these two approaches ��� running homebrew adventures in published campaign settings.

For a video on this topic, see this Lazy RPG Talk Show segment on homebrew adventures in published settings.

Benefits of Homebrew Adventures

While published adventures offer the benefits of a highly-produced product, it���s hard for a published adventure to adapt with the backgrounds, motivations, directions, and actions of the characters. They also don���t easily adapt with our own ideas ��� we have to modify the adventures to fit our own new paths. Adventure publishers encourage GMs to make published adventures their own by customizing adventures to fit the game taking place at the GM���s own table, but that���s still a lot of work to be done.

Homebrew adventures have none of these problems. Homebrew adventures are exactly what you want them to be. You decide their story, their villains, their locations, and their style of play. You can build entire adventures around your specific characters. As things change during the campaign, you can shift your whole direction to flow where the story takes it. That���s often not an option for a published adventure unless you throw a lot of it away.

Benefits of Published Campaign Settings

Published campaign settings don���t force any one style or path of adventure. Campaign settings give you well-produced material, often with excellent artwork, deep histories, ongoing political turmoil, piles of NPCs, fantastic locations to explore, and, hopefully, lots and lots of adventure seeds.

Some example campaign worlds fitting these criteria include:

The Midgard WorldbookEberron Rising from the Last WarVenture MaidensPtolusThe Best of Both Worlds

Running homebrew adventures in published campaign settings gives you the freedom to let your adventure go where you and your players take it, but with the well-produced framework of a published campaign setting. As a GM, you don���t need to worry about building your own theology, history, geography, or global politics. A whole team of designers, developers, editors, and publishers did that for you.

Understanding the Shared World

Running in a published campaign world has the added benefit of being potentially familiar to your players. If you���re playing in a common setting, players who recognize the world already have their feet on the ground. They may already know the pantheon or the state of global politics. It's already familiar.

Some GMs might see this as a disadvantage, particularly if the players know more than the GM does. The best way to deal with this is to bring them on board. Count on their knowledge to help share information with you and the other players as you play. Build off of their knowledge - don���t fear it or dismiss it. You���re all on the same side watching the story expand as you play.

Not for Everyone

This isn���t to dismiss running published adventures. I���ve run dozens of published adventures for years and still tend to grab onto them when it���s time to start a new campaign. The games I���ve shared with my players have been wonderful. But the times I look back at the homebrew adventures, it brings back fantastic memories and stories. Those twists and turns couldn't be accounted for in a published adventure.

Mix It Up

If you tend to run published adventures or tend to build your own adventures in your own campaign world, think about running a homebrew adventure in a published campaign world. You may find great value in being able to run custom adventures in a rich campaign setting and have a lot of fun with your friends around the table.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Shadowdark RPG Prep: The Ruins of Black Marrow and dndblogs.com and the TTRPG Fediverse.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Old Town Saga by MT BlackWeapons of Legend by Jeff SteventsD&D on Death RowTomb of the Red HeadsmanPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

The Eight Steps for Call of Cthulhu and Investigative or Mystery GamesIncentivizing Moving Around During CombatThoughts on Anti-Colonial Chapter of Forge of FoesPlayer-Focused Tasks and RolesWhere to Drop In the Three Choices For Future SessionsFitting a Strong Start Into a Three-Hour GameWhere Does Treasure Make Sense?RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

What choices can the characters make in each scene you prepare?Double-check those NPC names to make sure they're not silly. Build environments with fun z-axis features. Build with height, not just length and width. Focus your prep on the characters outwards. Add upward beats when all seems grim. Are your players enjoying the theme of your campaign? If not, change it up or move to something new. Set up situations instead of combat encounters. Related ArticlesThe Case For Published AdventuresUsing Published AdventuresHow to Customize Published Campaign AdventuresGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.

Re-Using Secrets and Clues

In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, I recommend writing down ten fresh secrets and clues during your prep for your next session. In Chapter 6, I state:

Sometimes your unrevealed secrets will make their way to your next session���s list. Other times, they simply fade away. You might be tempted to keep a huge list of past secrets, but that can end up being unwieldy. The world is a dynamic place, and it���s fine if you throw away old secrets. Just make sure you come up with a fresh list of ten new secrets and clues for every session.

I've often recommended that GMs not keep a big list of previous secrets and clues, but often during my Lazy RPG Prep shows, I find myself copying secrets and clues over from a previous session to a next session. I initially considered this reuse a violation of the rule, but now I think it's better to amend the rule.

Transferring relevant secrets from a previous session to the next session is a practical, lazy trick to speed up prep.

There are some caveats. We should keep certain things in mind to ensure we're maximizing the true value of secrets and clues.

First, make sure the secrets you transfer are still relevant. Do they still matter to the characters? Are they still something that could be true?

Second, confirm you haven't already revealed a secret you're considering moving forward. It's worth the time to review your previous notes and see which secrets you revealed. I typically reveal about half of the ten secrets I prepare for a session. It's fine to reinforce a secret already given if you think the players forgot it or it wasn't as clear as it could have been. Don't fill up your ten secrets with things the characters already know.

Third, avoid stockpiling secrets and clues. At some point, a massive list of unused secrets becomes a burden. You won't want to read through a list of 200 previously unreleased secrets before each game. It's simpler to start fresh. Assess the current situation in the game and determine what secrets are relevant for the upcoming session. Cluttering up our GM toolkit makes it more difficult to find what we need when we need it. Instead, stick to just reviewing and moving unused and relevant secrets from your last session to this one.

Moving secrets forward isn't a violation of the ways of the Lazy Dungeon Master �����it's a shortcut that helps us more easily prep for our game.

Review your previous notes, identify unused relevant secrets, and carry them forward.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Shadowdark Session 1 Prep and Scarlet Citadel Tips, Recommendations, and Campaign Conclusion.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video:

Baldur's Gate Gazetteer Free on D&D BeyondBigby's Glory of the GiantsUncovered Secrets Volume 2Adventure Crucible - Building Stronger Scenarios for Any RPGRead Books Instead of Social MediaAdventure Models from the Lazy DM's CompanionPatreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

Handling Multiple 5e SystemsChallenging Differently Powered CharactersEncouraging Party Talk and BanterRPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Alert your players before running downtime scenes so they can prep their activities. Warn players of the potentially lethal dangers their characters face.What choices can the characters make in any given scene?What are the common pitfalls for particular scenes you plan to run? How do you avoid them?What process do you have for buying or crafting magic items?Think one adventure out so you can seed your next session in your current one. Review old NPCs to see who you can reintroduce into the story. Related ArticlesThrowing Away SecretsSecrets Serve YouSecrets and Clues, the Secret Weapon of the Lazy Dungeon MasterGet More from Sly FlourishArticlesNewsletterBookstorePatreonPodcastYouTubeBuy Sly Flourish's Books Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master Lazy DM's Companion Lazy DM's Workbook Forge of Foes Fantastic Lairs Ruins of the Grendleroot Fantastic Adventures Fantastic Locations

Have a question or want to contact me? Check out Sly Flourish's Frequently Asked Questions.